Halloween Fun

During the second day we had off for Hurricane Sandy, Tuesday the 30th, we had us a little Halloween fun.  I got the box of costumes from the basement and the kids had fun dressing up.  Nobody has ever worn this mask as part of their costume, it's from a prop from one of Kristin's Halloween birthday parties, but every year they have to put it on for a picture.

We have so many different things in that box that once it was all out on the floor you couldn't see my floor anymore!

Megan dressed up in her rocker chick outfit.  I love the hair and glasses!

Kristin tried on her spider witch costume which Mamaw gave her. 

Later that evening we carved our pumpkins.  Megan wasn't quite into it since she was just diagnosed with pneumonia.

Yes, I said pneumonia.  She had a virus the week before and I was warned that it might go into pneumonia which I was trying to prevent by giving her nebulizer treatments.  Her doctor met me at her office Tuesday afternoon and diagnosed a mild case of pneumonia and switched up her meds.  Thankfully we never lost power (so she could still get her nebulizer treatments) because that's what saved her from getting too bad.  Anyway, she still wasn't up to par when we did the pumpkins so she started hers and then finished it the next day.  Here are the rest of them doing their pumpkins.

The finished jack-o-lanterns.  From left to right it's Zachary's, Lauren's, Kristin's and Megan's.

On Halloween Lauren had to work and Kristin went to a friend's house so that left just Zach and Megan.   Here's Zach the race car driver and Megan the ?????.  I have no idea who she's supposed to be!

The lights I put in the jack-o-lanterns would flash on and off and change colors.  It took me many pictures to finally get one of all 4 of them lit up at the same time. 

Zach was out trick-or-treating until 8:00!  Look at all the yummy candy he got.

After the kids were home from trick-or-treating I went to pick up Kristin from her friend's house.  On the way home we noticed the moon peeking through the clouds and it looked very Halloweenish so I had to take a picture of it.

Whew!  One more Halloween down.  Many more to go!

Hurricane Sandy is Out of Here

We really lucked out and didn't get a direct hit, she went north of us so New Jersey and New York got the worst of it.  Except for a little bit of light flickering we never did lose our power either.  The kids however did get 3 days off from school from it!  (And Paul and I got 2 days off from work.)  She was a HUGE storm covering 945 miles which apparently was a record for an Atlantic cyclone.  We ended up with 6 inches of rain in the bucket on our deck.

 

So what did we do during the time we had off?  Of course we watched tv and got a little sick of all the non-stop hurricane coverage so we found movies to watch and even had a family movie night on Monday.  Other things we did...

 

Zach did his first reading project for school.

 Megan texted.  A lot!

 Lauren did her nails.

 Zach and Lauren laughing and goofing off.

 Megan and Zach playing candy corn bingo.  They look thrilled don't they?

We also made our jack-o-lanterns but I'll save that for the next post. 

Like I said, we were extremely lucky.  The pictures from the Jersey shore are shocking to say the least and there are so many places in both Jersey and New York that are still without power and probably will be without power for weeks.  Whole houses were moved off their foundation by the storm surge.  Then there's the people that are getting snow like in West Virginia.  Some places got 2 - 3 feet of snow!  Sandy did widespread damage and one that will go down in the record books. 

Hurricane Sandy

Part 1

A category 1 hurricane is barrelling straight for us and should arrive sometime tonight.  The first bands of rain actually started yesterday evening, that's how huge this hurricane is.  In preparation we cleared the deck and Paul set-up his bucket so we can monitor how much rain we get.  Here's a picture of our deck yesterday afternoon.  

Of course we also stocked the house with food and water in case our electric goes out.  I went to BJ's Friday after work (remember, I only work half a day) and I thought I would beat the rush but no, that place was already packed!  They had everything I wanted though, food, water, and batteries so it was just a matter of waiting in long lines to pay for it.  Here's a part of our food supply sitting on the counter:

I don't know why that little cooler is sitting there.  Probably because I had no where else to put it because the big coolers were taking up the floor space.

So that was our storm preparation.  Clearing the outside of anything that could blow around and stocking the inside of the house in the event we lose electricity.  Which brings us to today, Monday, the day Sandy is expected to make landfall.  Here's a picture of our deck from this morning.  The rain was very heavy at times but the wind hasn't been too bad yet. 

We should have strapped a flag to one of our posts to show how windy it was.  Oh well, maybe next time.  You'll just have to take my word for it for now.

Paul saw that our paper had been delivered so we suited up Zach and sent him out into the hurricane to get it.  :)

It was really pouring when he went out and we told him to run fast and dodge the raindrops!  Since he was already dressed for the outside we also had him go out on our deck to check the water level in the bucket. 

There was a little over 2 inches in it.   We're predicted to get around 6-8 inches before Sandy is done. 

 

I tried searching for a satellite view of Sandy but couldn't find one that I like.  So for now I'm going to use this graphic.  The last predicted landfall of Sandy is in New Jersey but then she comes directly west and practically over top where we live! 

They're saying that Hurricane Sandy is going to be a superstorm because it is going to merge with cold air to the west and from arctic air to the north.  Then when she makes landfall it will be high tide PLUS there's a full moon.  One description I read about Hurricane Sandy that I just loved was that she is going to be "a large nor'easter on steroids!"  Another is that this is going to be a "once in a lifetime storm."  Great!  I'm so glad we're right in her path.  (I'm being sarcastic.)  I'll try to keep updating as the storm progresses.  At least until we lose our electric!  Stay tuned for part 2.

Part 2

We sent Zach out a few minutes ago to check how much rain we've gotten so far.  Since this storm is a hurricane we had to take safetly precautions.  We tethered him to one of Paul's tie-down straps!  

He didn't fly like a kite yet.  We'll try again in a few hours!  (Disclaimer:  We did NOT put him in harm's way in the slightest.  The wind speed is only 20 mph if that. We have to have a little bit of fun on a day like this!)  Anyway, we now have 3 1/2 inches of rain.

I finally found a satellite picture of Sandy that shows how massive she is.  Look how many states are affected by her.

They've updated her arrival to anytime between 5:00 and 6:00 pm today because she's sped up.  That's good news because now she's not going to coincide with high tide.   As of 2:00 pm she's 110 miles SE off the coast of Atlantic City.  I'll try to update again later as long as our power holds out.

Soccer

With it being her senior year Lauren decided not to play travel soccer this year with her team.   She didn't want to play for anyone, she just wanted the time off to do whatever she wanted.  So why do I have a post about soccer?  Because a couple of weeks ago she sought out and joined a different travel soccer team.  She's considered a "pool player" and only plays in games when they need her.  It's perfect for her because she doesn't have to be committed to her team on a weekly basis but it still gets her some playing time this fall. 

 

Two weeks ago she played in her first game with them, an away game that was in Warminster.  She was needed because too many of the girls probably didn't want to make the hour and a half drive!  Oh well, it was a nice day and it was just me and her. 

 

They played the number one team in their division and held them off for quite awhile before losing 2-0.  Here's a couple pics of her during the game.

She played well and I was glad she got on the team.  It gives her a chance to play a game she loves and to also have a little fun since this team isn't nearly as competitive as her old team. 

Then she plays her second game with the team this past Sunday.  It was a home game so we were happy not to have to travel.  We get through the first half uneventful but not too far into the second half Lauren goes to do a header and collides with another girls head instead.  Down she goes.  Even though I was watching the game and saw it happen (it was kind of boring so I was zoning out) it didn't click that it was Lauren until she was on the ground. 

A minute or two go by and the refs are waving us down to the field.  It took her a little while to get up and when she did get up she was a little wobbly.  After getting her off the field and into the car we headed to the ER.  With her previous concussions I didn't want to take any chances.  Even though her head hurt (of course!), she was dizzy upon standing and the light hurt her eyes, all classic symptoms of a concussion, the emergency room doc said she didn't have one.  They said it was because she passed all her neurological testing with "flying colors."  She ended up getting a day off of school yesterday (and so did I since I didn't want to leave her alone) for observation and a nasty looking bump on her forehead.  I guess she's okay since she went to school today. I think she dodged a bullet on that one because a concussion was the last thing she needed right now.  Now I'm hoping she doesn't play anymore this fall!

Fall Festival

Zach was so excited to go to his fall festival this year.  It was from 6:00 to 8:00 and we arrived right at 6:00.  I've learned that if you arrive at the beginning of it you can get an awesome parking spot and you can get most of the activities done before it gets too crowded and long lines start to form.  Then when the lines start to get long we head to the cafeteria to eat dinner.  This year it was Zach, Megan and myself that went to the fall festival. 

 

Megan found some friends to hang out with so I gave her some tickets and didn't see her again until the end of the night.  So then it was just Zach and me.  We went to the gym and Zach did the moonbounce/obstacle course first.  We just stayed there and he did it over and over about 5 times since there was no line.  I eventually pried him away from there and he chose to do the rock wall.

 He then played all the games in the gym and won his little prizes.  We then headed to the library to do the cake walk which he did several times in a row.  Unfortunately he didn't win a cake.  He was very close quite a few times, just one number away.  Oh well, better luck next year.

After we ate dinner we went back to the gym and stood in line to try to unlock the treasure chest.    His picture was taken for the yearbook as he tried to unlock it.  Here's my picture as he's getting his picture taken. 

The person helping with this game helped Zach find the right key so he could pick his treasure.  There was lots of treasure to pick from too.

I always stay until 8:00 because I want to hear the winners of the basket raffles.  Each classroom puts together a basket with a theme and they're put on display during the fall festival and at the end of the night the winners are drawn.  Zach's class basket was a Spa theme but some of the other themes were:  Disney, A Night Out, Sports, Cooking, etc...  We didn't win anything this year so we went home basketless.  Megan however saved the night for us by winning a cake from the cake walk.  Here's what she picked out:

So at least we didn't go home empy handed.  Thank you Megan!

Even More Band

These pictures are from all the games since the last time I posted something.  I don't remember which picture is from which game though so I I'll do just one post and include them all.  They've had all home games except for one away game so far.  Each time I see them perform they get better and better (which they should!). 

 They need to ride a bus for away games or competitions and normally take 2 buses but this time only one came so they all had to squeeze onto it.  Luckily Kristin's a tiny little thing.

 They play in the stands during the game and all the clarinets sit together in the same the row. 

 Another picture of the clarinets from the other side.  Probably from the same game since they're sitting in the same order.

 I love being able to get field pictures of when she's playing since that's not something I can do from the stands.  I love parents that are photographers and that share their pictures with the rest of us.

 A close-up of her playing in the stands. 

 And having a little fun with her friends.

That's if for now.  They have one more home game but I'm going to have to miss it because Zach has a fall festival at his school and he's really looking forward to it.  The rest are away games and I'll doubt I'll go to them.  They are marching in a Halloween parade so hopefully I'll be able to catch that.  Her marching band days for this year are soon coming to an end.

Homecoming Dance

 

Homecoming time again.  This year I have two girls going to the dance.  Lauren wanted to get ready at a friends house so I never got to see her wearing her dress or take any of my own pictures.  She was kind of enough to send me one she took with her phone.  Well, she actually sent me two pictures, one of just her and then this one of her and her friend. 

 I chose to put the one of her and her friend on here so you can see that it's not just Lauren that has a skimpy dress on!  It's hard to find anything that's not skin tight and short.

Lauren went with a white dress while Kristin opted for a black dress.  She however invited some of her friends to our house to get ready.  They took forever to get ready too so I quickly snapped a few pictures of them before driving them to the dance. 

I picked Kristin and her friends up afterwards and they seemed to have a good time.  I guess I'll hear about Lauren's night tomorrow when she comes home for her soccer game. 

Happy 15th Birthday Kristin!

Kristin celebrated her birthday Thursday night with her friends when they came over and spent the night.  They ate pizza, went to the park, did girl things like do each other's make-up and hair, stuff like that.  This morning, her actual birthday,  Kristin wanted to make her own cake and had previously picked out a recipe so I could have all the ingredients for her.  At first she told me that she wanted to make either lemon squares or chocolate/peanut butter cake so imagine my surprise when she told me she wanted to make sweet potato cheesecake!  I was like really????  But since I wasn't making it I went and bought everything for it and here she is this morning making it.

It was an all day event!  The crust needed to be baked, the sweet potatoes had to be baked for an hour and then cooled and then the actual cheesecake had to be made and baked.  Then once all that was done a topping had to be made and put on top of the cheesecake before it could be placed in the refrigerator to set. 

Kristin went to Timothy's again this year for dinner and not long after coming home from that we got her cake out to sing happy birthday.  Lauren was in charge of lighting the candles.  Too bad she doesn't know how to use a match!

See her lovely cheesecake?  It came out looking beautiful.
Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday dear Kristin.  Happy birthday to you!

See those couple of candles that didn't go out?

After huffing and puffing on them she realizes that they are trick candles.

That was Lauren's idea to do that since Kristin loves gag gifts.  As for the cake, the middle was not quite firm but that's probably because it needed to stay in the refrigerator longer.  The taste of it was delicious though!  Good choice Kristin!  Hope you had a happy 15th birthday!

Day Off from School

The kids and I were both off on Friday and it was a beautiful day to be outside.  It was Megan's idea to have a water balloon fight and she originally filled all the balloons.  When it was over Zach, however, wanted to fill some more on his own so I set him up with everything and then sat nearby to take some pictures.

He liked it when he let go and the water squirted everywhere.  In fact he insisted that  I take a video specifically to put on my blog so here it is: 

It's pretty neat to be having water fun in October!  That's going to change this weekend though when it's supposed to be 55 degrees on Sunday.  Time to dig out the winter coats!